I went to the Super Auctions coin-operated equipment auction in Milwaukee over the weekend, and I am happy to report that I didn’t come away empty handed. I bought a CD jukebox for my dad to give as a gift.

I’ve been to the auction several times now, and my family or guests that came with us have purchased some pretty big items –five jukeboxes, three dart boards, one arcade game, and three pinball machines total, that I can remember.

But this was my first trip without my dad along. Normally, this wouldn’t be any bigger a deal than me going to the store without my dad (which happens every day). But my dad usually does the bidding at the auctions, but without him there I was in charge of raising my hand when the items I wanted came up on the list.

I won’t lie – I was nervous about bidding. I’d bid on eBay before, but never in person. So when bidding began on the first item I wanted – a classic pinball machine called “Travel Time” – my heart started racing just a little bit. But it stopped racing pretty quickly as within two bids the machine was out of my price range.

I consoled myself with heading over to the next item I had on my short list – a Polaroid photo booth that may or may not have actually worked. I was mostly interested in looking at how low the price of the machine went, because at the last auction four broken photo booths sold for $1 total. I’m trying to build my own photo booth for my sister’s wedding in June, but I’m hoping for a more portable version than the bulky contraption at the auction. Still, when the price went down to $5, I couldn’t resist. I stayed in the auction until it went up to $15, and I just couldn’t justify it – especially when we had limited space for bringing items back to my parents house in the back of my friend’s pickup.

As the auction moved down the rows of machines, I waited for a CD jukebox that I had my eye on. But instead of the one I originally planned on buying, another, larger, and filled jukebox came up for auction first and at a much cheaper price than I expected. I bid, and it was great. I got into a minor bidding war with another guy, who popped the price up at the last minute, but I won in the end.

We finished out the auction by watching as the final item I wanted – a dart board – went for an abnormally high price and then we loaded up my friend’s truck and headed home.

All told, I could probably get into the world of auctions. Sure, it was stressful to make any bids, but it was something of a rush, too – almost like jumping off a high dive or riding a roller coaster.